


Don't Leave Me Hanging

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Also slightly awkward Tyler, I saw homecoming and was inspired, Imma be real, M/M, Pining Tyler, and there's no spidey AU's in the joshler works, just to fit the spidey romance aesthetic, so I'm here to fix that, spider-man au, this is entirely self indulgent, which is a crime in itself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-05 21:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11586627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Adventures Of Spider-Tyler (ft. pining Tyler, happy boy Josh, and Spider-Man fangirl Mark.)





	1. An Accident a.k.a "You're Spider-Man!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went and saw Spider-Man: Homecoming like three hours ago and my childhood (eternal) love for Spidey has hit me strong. 
> 
> So whoops, here's this. 
> 
> If anyone wants more, hmu.

The suit was kind of unpleasant at times. Skin tight latex really wasn't the most comfortable material, especially as it rubbed against his thighs when he jumped around.

So Tyler sent a quick mental thank you to whoever created baby powder as he jumped down to a lower building, making his way home after a long night of patrolling.

It was also really… revealing.

Tyler may have gotten more comfortable with his body since he became Spider-Man, but every man deserved the right to be a little self conscious in a suit that showed, well, everything.

But the main point was the tightness. It was so tight, and Tyler had made the stupid decision to wear it under his clothes.

He hadn't really had a choice in the manner though. Not even a moment after defeating an early morning robbery, Tyler had swung home, slipping in through the window as he ripped the mask off.

Just as Tyler had began to remove the body of the suit, fingers mere centimetres away from pulling the material off, he noticed someone on the other side of his bedroom door, the handle beginning to twist.

With supernatural speed, Tyler pulled a shirt over his head, hiking pants up his legs immediately afterwards. He managed to get them to his hips just in time for Zack to burst in.

“Tyler, hurry up. You’re gonna miss the bus.” He nagged, barely sticking his head in to berate Tyler before popping back out.

Tyler should have taken that moment to get out of the suit and change into comfortable clothes for school. Unfortunately, Tyler was sleep deprived and running on residue adrenaline at that point, so he raced down the stairs, suit still on underneath.

This led to an uncomfortable first few periods as he sat in the tight material, skin slowly becoming oversensitive from constant touch, and paranoia slowly setting in. The constant fear of someone finding out corrupting all his thoughts like a plague.

Tyler persevered though, trying his best to pay attention to the teacher as the suit slowly rode up his ass. He had grades to maintain and no discomfort would distract that.

 _Only till recess_ , Tyler would repeat to himself. An hour and then he could rush to the toilet and free himself of the tight prison.

The ring of the bell never sounded so sweet as Tyler rushed to stacked his books up, eager to get out of the tight material.

“Tyler.”

Unfortunately - or fortunately, if it was any other day - Josh Dun was walking his way.

Josh Dun, aka his two year long crush. He was all bright hair and bright smiles while also being such a _good_ person.

Who stepped in when a bully was on Tyler in junior year? Josh.

Who smiled at Tyler every time they made eye contact? Josh.

Who complimented Tyler's Spanish pronunciation in the school quiz even though they both knew Tyler messed up? Josh.

Tyler would consider himself a smart individual; good grades, suit upgrades and a shelf full of awards would prove that. But whenever Josh Dun and his bright hair got within a ten metre vicinity of Tyler, he… short circuited?

Words got mixed up on their way from Tyler's brain to his mouth, and his arms always felt too heavy. What was he meant to do with them? Let them hang by his side? Keep them near his chest? Cross them?

He opted for clutching his books to his chest instead, using one hand to push himself up from his desk. He was halfway to his feet though when he realised his shirt was caught on the chair, slowly sliding up to reveal the material of his suit.

Without grace, he plonked back down into his seat, the chair making a clattering noise as it slid across the floor a bit.

“Oh hey, Josh, uhh.” Tyler said as he tried to position himself in a way that his suit wasn't obvious, using one hand to pull the front of his shirt down over the red material. “How's it going?”

“... What are you doing?” Josh instantly looked suspicious and confused at Tyler's actions, which meant that his conspicuous manner wasn't really working. _He fought a two tonne baddy that night, why couldn't he talk to his crush?_

“Me?” Tyler pointed at himself with a free hand. “Um, you know, not much.”

And there went Josh's eyebrows, slowly raising, up, up, up his forehead. Tyler was so busted.

“Tyler…?

Tyler mimicked Josh's expression, trying to put a more innocent edge on it. “Yeah?”

Josh's eyes flicked to where Tyler was pulling his shirt down, attempting to cover his suit. “You okay, buddy?”

“Yeah, yeah. Pfft. Of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

“You just seem to, umm, have a problem, maybe? If so, that's all cool, I understand. Happens to everyone.” Josh said slightly flustered, pointedly not looking down, and _oh_. That's what he meant. “I just wanted to ask you something, but if you're uh…” Josh snapped his fingers and pointed down at Tyler's area as he thought of what to say. “Distracted? I can ask another time.”

“No, no, it's definitely not that.” Tyler said as an attempt to stop that path of conversation. He didn't need Josh thinking he was popping boners during school.

“It's ok if it was, dude.”

“It's not.”

“I'm just sayin–”

“Yeah, no, that's _really_ not the problem.”

“Oh, okay.” Josh stepped closer to Tyler, crouching down in front of his desk and resting his crossed arms on top of it. Settling his chin on top of his forearms, he ‘innocently’ asked, “So, what's the problem?”

“Uh,” _dammit_ , what was Tyler meant to say, “I have a…. wedgie?”

No. Bad Tyler. No.

One, that was a terrible excuse. Two, the way his voice reached an almost pre-pubescent octave on the word _wedgie_ really didn't convey confidence in his answer. Three, he just told Josh Dun that he had a wedgie.

What was wrong with him?

Josh laughed, _bless him_ , face scrunched in bewilderment and amusement, “Okay, well do you want to fix that and we can head to recess. I want to talk to you about something?”

“Yep, can do.” Tyler said, waiting for Josh to turn around. He kept waiting and waiting as their eye contact prolonged into almost awkward territory. “Could you, please, um. Turn around?”

“Oh,” Josh cried, “Right. Sorry.”

He buried his face down into his arms immediately, giving Tyler some privacy to ‘adjust’ himself. Tyler pulled at the material immediately, making sure everything was flat and covered.

With Josh not looking, Tyler took a quick moment to appreciate his freshly dyed hair and broad shoulders before muttering out a nervous, “okay, all good.”

Josh’s head popped up immediately, delivering an excited smile. “Sweet.”

Tyler should have been used to walking alongside Josh. After term one of senior year, there had been an increase of Josh in his life. He's not sure how it started but soon enough Josh was everywhere. Inviting Tyler and Mark to eat with him and his friends, or saddling up to their lunch table and starting conversation.

At first he had been cautious. Someone like Josh, talking to someone like Tyler. It had to have been a prank.

But after the awkward small talk phase ended and the months grew, there were no signs of any ill intentions.

So Tyler just accepted it with happiness, trying not to overthink it as he fought bad guys and drifted through senior year.

The only downside was the frequency of Mark's teasing.

Anytime Tyler brought Josh up in conversation - which to be fair, was probably more than healthy - Mark rounded on him.

Imitations of Tyler would tumble from his lips. Overexaggerated cries of “Oh Josh,” or “Did you know that Josh…” would come spilling out as he swooned like a damsel.

But it was worth it if it meant Tyler could be Josh's acquaintance.

They still weren't best friends, and Tyler still made himself a fool around Josh at times, but it was more than Tyler had ever hoped for.

And it was the small things that made Tyler thankful that Josh ever began talking to him.

Like how Josh stopped just before they were about to go through the doorway and waved Tyler through.

“Thank you.” Tyler tugged on the end of his shirt as he walked in front of Josh, still conscious of his suit even though he knew he should be covered.

“Anytime.” Josh replied with a smile. Did he ever stop smiling? It was senior year. Every student was meant to be dead inside or stressed to the brim.

Realisation hit Tyler like lightening. The school only gave them fifteen minutes for recess.

Which meant Tyler either had to run to the bathroom and catch up with Josh afterwards, or spend the rest of the periods until lunch in tight discomfort.

The choice was obvious, even if Tyler felt bad for ditching.

“Hey Josh?”

“Yeah?” He said, looking back at Tyler as he slowed down.

“Do you mind if I quickly go to the toilet? I'll be with you in a minute.” He tried his best to put on an apologetic face. He really didn't want to abandon Josh just after they started talking but the shit had begun touching places on Tyler that it never should have reached.

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Thank you, you're a blessing.”

Josh just laughed, and before Tyler could internally berate himself for being creepy, he turned on his heel and ran to the bathroom.

Luckily, he had mastered the art of taking off the suit and it only took mere moments before he was racing through the halls again.

He made a quick pit stop to throw the suit in his locker, pulling it out from under his jumper where he had smuggled it.

With a slam of the locker, Tyler was off again, searching for Josh.

Which unfortunately lasted the whole recess, Tyler not finding a trace of Josh anywhere. It then turned into Tyler trying to find Josh all of lunch, which then turned to Tyler trying to find Josh afterschool.

There was just a lot of Tyler looking for Josh and coming up short.

He ended up quitting his search for Josh half an hour after the final bell rang, just accepting the fact that he would have to talk to Josh ether online that night or the next day of school.

It was when Tyler was heading back to his locker that he knew he had made a grave mistake of ever letting Mark know his locker combination.

He hadn't expected a thing until he saw Mark lean  
away from the locker door, pulling out Tyler's suit and excitedly mouthing, “Spider-Man?’

“Oh boy.” Tyler muttered under his breath as he sprinted over to Mark.

No one was meant to know.

Mark looked like a kid on Christmas, beaming smile and wide eyes as he held up the blue and red cloth.

“What were you doing in my locker?” Tyler cried in distress.

“I was looking for the answers to tomorrow's homework, but that's not important.” He shook the suit in his hand a bit.

Tyler ripped it from his fingers and threw it into his locker before anyone could see. Not that anybody was around, but he really didn't want to risk it.

“You're Spider-Man?” Mark yelled, looking like he was two seconds away from passing out with excitement.

Tyler slapped a hand over Mark’s mouth, “Not so loud.”

Fingers pulled at Tyler's hand as Mark scrambled to speak, “But dude, this is so cool. You're Spider-Man!”

“Shh,” Tyler hissed, “Tell the whole school, why don't you?”

“Oh my god, can you show me your powers.”

Tyler kind of wanted to cringe at the way Mark said powers.

“Now?”

Showing off during school time did not sound like the best idea.

“Why not? Most people would have left. Plus, we’re in the haunted hall.”

He had a point, Tyler's locker was in the hallway of the school that had gained the most rumours over the year. Slowly gaining the reputation of being haunted as people claimed that the lockers were slowly raising, or cobwebs slowly becoming more commons despite the cleaners best efforts, and dents appearing in random places on the metal doors. Tyler had _no_ idea whatsoever as to how those rumours started.

“Fine,” a small part of Tyler wanted to show off anyway, “but only quickly.”

Stepping away and glancing down the hall for any passerby's, Tyler shot a web out against the opposing locker. It hit with a satisfying _thwack_ , a string of web hanging down from where it made contact.

“Holy shit.” Mark yelled. “This is so fucking cool, dude. You have no idea.”

“I'm sure I have some idea.”

Mark jumped a bit on the spot, clearly overwhelmed. “What else?”

“Umm,” Tyler thought about it as he let go of the web, watching it fall against the locker with a light _thud_. “I can climb stuff?”

“Yeah, no shit. I know that. I watch the news.” Okay, he did not have to be that rude. “You have to show it to me, now.”

Tyler let out a sigh of resignation even as he walked over to a row of lockers, placing his hand against the cold metal. He ignored Mark’s excited noises as he slowly climbed up, perching on top of the metal cases when he was done. “Happy?”

“So happy.” Mark’s smile didn't die even as he shook his head in disbelief. “This is the happiest day of my life.”

He had to admit. The praises were getting to Tyler a bit. After years of newspapers and magazines chewing him up and spitting him out, recognition and appreciation were always nice.

And while he did see the videos and interviews of people thanking his name, hearing it in person, especially from someone so close to him, was something else.

It made Tyler feel amazing. Stroking something warm inside him. It made the cuts and broken bones worth it.

Not that saving people wasn't worth it.

But Mark’s excited face as Tyler slowly crept onto the ceiling definitely helped his ego.

“So, yeah.” Tyler said, upside down from the roof. The angle really wasn't helping Mark’s good looks. “This is me.”

“Dude.” Mark dragged the first syllable out.

Tyler gave an ecstatic nod, apprehension about Mark finding out slowly fading away with each compliment and ecstatic response. Being Spider-Man was pretty cool. “I know right?”

“This,” he made an exploding _boom_ motion with his hands by his head, “is mind blowing.”

“It's pretty cool.” Tyler admitted, slowly descending from the ceiling on a web attached the light panel.

Mark rushed to Tyler as he righted himself upwards, feet touching the ground. “This is more than cool. This is fucking epic.”

Just as Tyler was about to reply, he heard footsteps readily heading towards them. They echoed off the opposite hallway as Tyler's heart sped up.

He pulled the web from the ceiling, hoping to detach it before he got stuck in an awkward situation and outed his identity twice in one day.

Unfortunately, Tyler underestimated the strength of both his web and arm as he yanked the light out of its socket, resulting in half of it sticking out of the ceiling.

That was not good.

Tyler would have climbed up and tried to push the flickering panel into place, but the footsteps were mere metres away from turning the corner and catching Tyler with his hands full of web.

Both Mark and Tyler jumped into action. Tyler wrapping the second web around his right hand to hide it while Mark scrambled across the hall to stand in front of the web on the locker.

Of course bright hair was the first thing Tyler saw as the figure rounded the corner. Just Tyler's luck.

“Hi, Josh.” Tyler said with a wave of his non-webbed hand. 

Josh seemed as joyful as ever over Tyler's awkward greetings, giving him a kind smile. “Hey, Tyler. What's up? I was looking for you.”

“Um, not much. Just hanging around.” _Really Tyler? A pun? A pun that only he and Mark would understand_. Not even a good one judging by Mark’s fed up expression. “I tried to find you at lunch and after school.”

“Oh, we must have missed each other.” Josh stopped a few feet in front of Tyler, holding his books to his chest with a nervous smile. “So, I just wanted to ask. Umm…”

Josh paused, glancing over at Mark as he leaned against the locker.

“Yeah?” Tyler prompted.

Josh shook his head. “Never mind, another time.”

“You sure?” Tyler felt like he was missing something.

“Yeah, it's fine.” He hesitated before continuing, “Actually, would you mind giving me a hand on this week's Algebra content? I'm not quite getting it?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course!” Tyler said, maybe a little too excitedly. They had studied before, usually in the library except for the one time where Josh invited him over. So he shouldn't have felt as nervous as he did. But something about the way Josh was asking, or maybe just the residue adrenaline from almost getting caught was sending Tyler's heart racing. “Right now?”

“Yeah, if you want. Unless you're busy?”

Tyler caught sight of Mark’s flurried motions behind Josh's back, crossing his hands over his throat before pointing at his own left hand. _Oh right, the web_.

“Uh no, I'm totally free…. just need to go to the toilet first, y'know. If that's okay?”

Josh let out a laugh, _God, he was so pretty._ “You've been going to the toilet a lot today. Should we be worried?”

“No!” Tyler really didn't need Josh thinking he had a bladder problem. “I've just been having a lot of water lately. It… clears the skin?”

“Well, it looks like it's been working. You look good.”

Was slightly choking on his own spit a reasonable reaction to being complimented by Josh Dun?

“Thanks, you look good too.” Tyler started to babble. “I mean you always look good. That sounds a little creepy. It wasn't meant to be creepy. I was just trying to say. You know, casually when I see you, I go, ‘oh hey, Josh looks good’. Not that I'm looking or anything. Just a normal observation. And. Uh. Dammit.”

At least Josh looked more elated than disturbed. That was a good sign that Tyler hadn't shoved his foot in his mouth too bad. Plus, Josh was smiling so hopefully he interpreted Tyler's running mouth as a compliment.

“It's okay, Tyler. I get what you mean.”

“Sweet.”

“So, uh.” Josh began, biting down on a smile as he fidgeted on the spot. “I'll meet you in the library.”

“Yeah, give me five minutes.”

“Awesome.”

Tyler theorised that Josh's smile could either kill a man or heal them from the brink of death. “Can't wait.”

“You, me, and algebra. It's a date.”

 _It's just a figure of speech_ , Tyler told himself, _don't get worked up_.

His voice did not crack as he said, “It's a date.”

“See you soon, Tyler.” Josh said with a wave, turning and making his way down the hall with a bounce in his step.

Tyler ignored the way Mark crept up beside him until he mimicked in Tyler's ear, “‘You look good too, Josh’.”

“End me.” Tyler groaned, head thrown back in agony. Why was talking so hard?

“That was,” Mark began, “the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen.”

“It's hard,” Tyler hissed back, trying to get Mark to lower his voice, the hallway could carry sound far and he did not need Josh hearing them. “He's really pretty and pretty people scare me.”

“But not a super powered mob boss?” Tyler could have fought off the arm Mark slung around his head, but he decided to humour him, letting himself be dragged down to Mark’s chest. “Amazing priorities, Tyler.”

“Shut up.”

Mark's voice was too sickly sweet as he said, “Someone's got a date.”

“It's not a da–”

 _Crash_.

The collision behind them cut Tyler off. Well, there went the light that Tyler pulled earlier. He sent a quick mental apology to both the cleaners and the school's budget.

“Dammit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to find that sweet spot of Spider-Man clichedness and may have overshot it but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Anyway the pros of today: I saw Spider-Man
> 
> Cons of today: I accidentally put four spoons of salt in my Milo drink and tasted death itself


	2. Study Date a.k.a "Sorry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a thing now, I guess?
> 
> Also this story is going to be full Spider-Man cheesiness. It's kinda fun to write tbh.

Was Josh Dun a real human being?

It didn't seem possible for someone to be that beautiful, or kind, or funny, or smart.

Yet, he was sitting in the library, as if he wasn't a complete contradiction to all laws of the universe. Most people are under the illusion that perfection means that the person in question has done nothing wrong. Everything they achieve is to high excellence. That no one but the newborn can achieve perfection, as everyone else is flawed.

But Tyler and his high school crush would disagree.

Because Josh struggled with maths, and sometimes he would completely space out in a conversation, and he had a little scar on the webbing of his thumb and left forefinger - a result of a freak drumming accident, apparently. He tapped his pencil against his desk in every subject, driving Tyler and his advanced hearing wild. He sometimes couldn't focus on the task at hand, mind jumping from thing to thing or zoning out for a bit. He didn't speak up in class, clamming up when the teacher asked a question.

And those flaws are what made Josh perfect to Tyler. It was the scars, individuality, and disorder of Josh that made him absolutely enchanting in Tyler's mind.

Not once had he seen Josh mad, or upset. Okay, maybe a couple of times when someone had been rude, but it was justified though. He had always stood up for Tyler. Befriending him and treating him with respect when the older kids had given him a rough time. With the help of that, and Tyler's new grown powers at the time, the bullying had decreased significantly in junior year.

He could admit that he may have rose-tinted glasses on whenever he looked at Josh, but it wasn't that exaggerated. He couldn't think of one person who thought less of Josh.

Except maybe Chad. But he wasn't an important human being, and his opinions didn't really matter to Tyler.

Or anyone.

But that was off topic. Because more importantly, awkward and alone, Josh sat at one of the many library desks, books spread across the surface and a frown on his face.

The tapping of a pen stuck with Josh like a shadow, following him to every class. To Tyler, it seemed more agitated than usual. A faster pace that created sounds to ricochet around the library.

As Tyler approached, Josh looked up, the tempo faltering before stopping as he beamed at Tyler. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Tyler replied with his own smile. “You ready?”

“As ready as I'll ever be.” Josh shifted a book a bit on the table, clearing space to indicate Tyler to sit down. “I started while I was waiting and I'm already sick of it.”

Tyler could tell. There were aggressive, shapeless scribbles filling the margins and bottom of the page. Plus, the tempo of Josh's beating pen was not one that resonated ‘calm’.

He probably was also worried that Tyler wouldn't show up. Josh had confessed one time that he always had the background fear that people would abandon him. Forget about him. Something to do with the social anxiety.

“Sorry for making you wait. Had to clean something up.”

Looking up, Josh made a confused face at Tyler. “... In the toilet?”

“No.” Tyler denied, shaking his head vigorously. “Mark and I accidentally broke something in the hallway. It's all good now.”

“Cool.” There was an awkward pause as they both hurried to think of something to say, a way to add to the conversation. “Okay, so…”

“Yeah.” Tyler said, picking up where Josh left off. “Umm, so what are you stuck on?”

“Everything.” A self patronizing laugh followed.

Tyler did his best to return his own laugh, something more lighthearted and reassuring. “Okay, well let's try and narrow that down. What have you been working on?”

The sound of glossy cardboard rubbing over wood followed as Josh pushed the notebook in front of Tyler, letting him see all the questions on the page.

Josh's messy scrawl covered most of the paper, neat and even math solutions slowly becoming more messy as his patience seemed to run out. Scribbles and shapes covered the bottom half, and little doodles of flowers and Spider-Man filled the margins.

“Cute drawings.” Tyler tapped a specific one in the upper left of the page, his mask sticking out as if peering down on Josh's work.

Josh shifted closer, head near Tyler's shoulder as he peered down at his notebook. Tyler tried to ignore the way Josh's breath hit his neck, the sensitive skin tingling on contact.

“Oh, I forgot about that. That's kinda embarrassing.”

“You a fan?” It felt slightly narcissistic to ask, but the idea that Josh liked Tyler, even just his unknown aspect of him, was too tantalising to resist.

“Yeah, I guess. I appreciate what he does, how he helps people. I don't think he deserves all the hate he gets in magazines and newspapers.” Josh said, not looking away from the little scribble of Tyler's mask in the margin of the notebook. “I wouldn't say I'm a fan fan, y'know. I'm not dying to meet him or have buckets of his merchandise. But he seems good.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

With a shrug, Josh leant back away from the book, looking Tyler in the eyes. “Plus, it's the most exciting thing to happen here. A local superhero’s pretty cool.”

“True.” Tyler couldn't think of anything else to say. It wasn't everyday that he had to have a conversation where the main topic were compliments about his secret identity. To change the subject, Tyler moved the book back to Josh. “Well, You seem to be struggling with quadratic. Do you want to start there? There's this reference book I can recommend. It helped me out when I first learnt it. There's a copy in the library if you want to check it out.”

“Honestly,” Josh began, giving Tyler a look that pleaded for assistance, “That sounds great. I'll take anything that could help at this point.”

“Sick. Umm, I guess I'll go get it. It should be near the right wing.”

Josh jumped out of his seat, following Tyler. “I'll come with you. Just in case I need it again, y'know.”

“Yeah, sure.”

They fell into line together, making their way from the main tables as they headed to the right wing. Tyler's mind was on overdrive as he tried to think of a topic to talk about. _Complain about school?_ That was always safe. But Tyler didn't want to seem negative.

 _Ask Josh a question?_ But what question? He didn't want to sound too desperate.

Josh was the one who ended up resolving the awkward silence.

Voice croaky and high, he began. “Did you see Mr. Milkovich’s shirt in assembly?”

Tyler gracefully ignored the way Josh's voice cracked on see. They were in high school, they had all been there. Even if Tyler’s voice stopped breaking by the time he hit sixteen.

_(That was a lie. Tyler voice broke almost half an hour ago.)_

It could have been the radioactive spider bite though, that boosted his puberty. He couldn't think of many other teenage boys with muscles like his. _And that ‘totally’ didn't make Tyler sound like he was full of himself._

“How could you miss it?” Tyler faked a shudder, smiling when he got Josh to laugh. “That was hard to look at.”

Tyler could physically feel and see the tension disappear as Josh's shoulders dropped, the pressure rolling of their backs as they fell into a safe topic.

“I know right.” Josh’s hand grazed Tyler's when they turned into a book aisle. Not that Tyler paid any extra attention to it. It was only a second of contact. Nothing really. “I'm so glad I was sitting back far enough that it wasn't blinding me.”

Becoming greedy for more, Tyler placed a palm against the small of Josh's back, steering him down another aisle before quickly pulling away. He ignored the warmth that lingered on his fingers. “Lucky, my homeroom teacher forced us to sit up the front. I had a front row seat of it.”

Tyler wasn't sure why Mr. Milkovich thought it was a grand idea to wear a button up covered in polka dots. _Neon pink and green polka dots._

Josh gave a grimace of sympathy, “Ouch. That must of hurt. I could see it from the back rows.” He clutched at Tyler's arm as he gave him a look of over exaggerated worry. “Are you gonna be okay? I don't know how your eyes could survive seei–”

Josh cut off as they turned the corner into a row, the sight of two teenagers making out catching them off guard. Both the couple and the boys froze for a second as they made eye contact, before Tyler broke off into a ramble of apologises, averting his eyes from them.

“Sorry,” Tyler cried, stumbling back into Josh. “We were just. Oh boy, sorry.”

Josh grabbed Tyler's arm as they both backed away, throwing more apologies over their shoulders.

“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.”

They managed to escape to another aisle with a small remnant of their dignity intact. But the run in had made the air awkward again. And Josh was avoiding eye contact.

_Dammit, just when they had found a sweet spot of conversation._

Tyler wasn't sure why he felt so nervous. It wasn't the first time he had been alone with Josh. It wasn't even the first time that they had had a ‘ _study date_ ’ together.

But Tyler's heartbeat hadn't gotten the memo, and had continued to pound with nerves all afternoon. His brain hadn't caught on either. Blanking more than usual and thinking annoying thoughts.

He didn't need to overanalyze why Josh had been sitting closer than usual or if he had smiled brighter when Tyler touched his back.

Yet, Tyler's mind and awkwardness stuck with him until they reached the book.

“This it?” Josh questioned as he scanned the tall shelf of maths books.

“Yeah,” Tyler pointed upwards, spotting the spine on the top shelf, perfectly in its place in the Dewey decimal system. “It's the green one. Algebra 50 with the yellow titling.”

“Awesome.” He said, approaching the shelf. He stood on his tiptoes, fingers just grazing the metal it sat on. “Gimme a sec.”

“Wait I can–”

Before Tyler could interfere and give Josh a hand, the boy had snuck a foot onto one of the empty shelves and hiked himself up and up and up. Tyler's advanced eyesight could pick up on the way Josh's fingertips turned white and shook as they clung on to the edge of a shelf.

Letting go with one hand, Josh slipped the book off the shelf, clutching it firmly in his hand. “Got it.”

Shaking his head, Tyler approached, looking up at Josh from his spot near the top of the bookshelf. He looked cute as he beamed with victory. “You're going to give me a heart attack, dude.”

“I'm fine.”

Josh was not fine.

Either irony or comedic timing took effect straight away.

Because Josh's fingers finally slipped from their awkward positioning and Josh fell.

Thanking his advanced reactions, Tyler wrapped an arm under Josh's back and knees, catching him before he could hit the ground.

A low huff left Josh's body on impact, the book still in his hand hitting his chest on collision.

It took a moment before Josh's eyes opened, obviously expecting the pain of the floor, not the safety of Tyler's arms.

“Huh.” Was the first thing Josh said, staring up at Tyler.

“You okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” Josh’s eyes didn't leave Tyler face, the look of wonder still firmly cemented on his expression. “How did you...? You know what. Never mind. That was, uh, that was really cool.”

Laughing a little, Tyler set Josh on his feet, still keeping an arm around Josh's back in case the adrenaline in his system made his knees give out. “Thanks.”

“No, I'm the one who should be saying thanks in this situation.” Josh's voice was still trailing slowly, as if he couldn't quite keep up with what was happening.

Which was understandable.

“No problem. I'm glad you're safe.”

Tyler ignored the part of him that wanted to keep touching Josh, to stay close to him. Instead he pulled away, letting Josh have room to breath.

“Well… that was terrifying.”

The thought of Tyler not reaching Josh in time was nightmare fuel. _He would need to put a collar on this boy so he didn't go and do anything else reckless_. “Maybe you should leave the climbing to the professionals. I would hate to not be there the next time you fall.”

“Well maybe you should stick around then.” Josh gently knocked Tyler's arm, giving him a playful smile. “Be my professional life saver.”

“Is there any pay?”

Josh seemed to think about it for a second, looking to the skies. “My gratitude?”

“Hmm.” Tyler wouldn't mind that as a payment, to be honest. But he was enjoying the back and forth they had going on.

“Being able to spend time with me?”

Tyler was surprised Josh didn't figure out how far gone Tyler was for him in that moment. With a smile so wide it hurt and a heartbeat loud enough that he swore Josh could hear it.

“Perfect.”

Josh stuck out a hand, waiting until Tyler's fell into it, to give it a shake. “Then consider yourself hired.”

His hand was kind of clammy and hot, but that's okay because Josh's was as well. Their contact prolonged as they stared at each other, slowly getting heavier as time passed.

It broke when Josh shook his head and pulled away, rubbing the back of his scalp as he said, “Uh, we should probably head back. Get some studying done.”

“Huh, yeah of course.” He covered the heavy disappointment inside himself with the remnant feelings of holding Josh's hand. Lingering on the warmth it bled and the way it made Tyler nervous and overjoyed. “Uh, lead the way I guess.”

Josh laughed as he overtook Tyler, easily finding his way back to the table while avoiding the aisle with the scandalous couple.

It might be a bit concerning how many times Tyler has messed up due to Josh Dun. One time, Tyler saw Josh through the class window as he was walking by. He ended up face planting the next moment over a raised brick.

No superpowers could save him from Josh Dun’s smile.

He was gorgeous. The few pimples and tired eye bags couldn't ruin the beauty of Josh in Tyler's eyes.

Because when Josh smiled, or laughed, or even just gazed off into the distance, Tyler was lovestruck. He had spent one too many nights trying to rationalise with himself.

Tyler could recognise that Josh had flaws, at least when compared to what people considered beauty standards. But he could never find a reason to dislike them.

It drove him crazy how far gone he was on the boy.

Even as Josh sat studying, slight double chin as he looked down at the book, cheek being pushed up in a comedic way as he rested his head against his palm, Josh looked beautiful.

The way his hair curled over his forehead, making Josh have to blow it in the other direction every couple of minutes. The slight patchy spot of stubble, something he must have missed when shaving. They were all things that made up Josh.

Tyler didn't realise how hard he was staring until Josh looked up, catching Tyler's eye with a nervous smile. “What?”

Shaking his head lightly and biting down a smile, he replied, “Nothing.”

“Okay.” It came out excited but tentative, a soft word that paired with Josh's bashful grin.

They both looked down at the same time, Tyler pretending to scan over his work before flicking his eyes back up to get another glimpse of his crush. He froze when he made eye contact with Josh again. They had both looked at each other at the same time, eyes wide with the knowledge that they had been caught, before hurriedly going back to work.

A minute or so passed before Josh quietly spoke up. “I can't figure this one out.”

He tapped the example in question, bringing Tyler's attention to it. Trying not to seem too eager to get closer to Josh, Tyler pulled out his chair and made his way over to the one next to Josh.

Sliding the notebook over as he sat down, Tyler quickly read over it. “It’s basically the same as the other two. It's the same formula at least. What are you confused by?”

“Oh umm,” Josh appeared flustered as he pulled the notebook back, “Never mind. I can just figure it out.”

“Wait, wait. Sorry.” Tyler began. He didn't mean to embarrass Josh. _Gosh, Tyler was so stupid. If someone's asking for help, you don't just point out stuff like that._ “I didn't meant to make you feel bad or anything. I just meant that they're the same, if that's what you're stuck on.”

Josh shook his head, scribbling down the answer to the question with ease. “No, it's fine. I've got it now.”

“Okay… if you say so.”

As he went to stand, he felt a tug on his sleeve. Tyler hadn't really wanted to leave from Josh's side of the table, but he felt it would have been weird to just sit in the chair when his work was on the other side of the table. Apparently his worries were useless, because Josh stumbled out. “You can stay here if you want. Y'know, in case I need your help again.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.”

With shaky hands, Tyler leant over the desk, sliding his books over to their side of the table before settling back down. The moments passed quickly as Tyler studied to the sound of Josh's writing and tapping.

Slowly, the tapping decreased and the scribbling increased. _Maybe Josh was getting the hang of it._ He generally only tapped his pen when he couldn't focus or was struggling with something.

Tyler looked over with the expectation to see Josh studiously working. Instead he was presented with the scene of Josh furiously scribbling and drawing away in the margins.

“Josh?”

Said boy looked over at Tyler like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Quickly trying to appear hardworking, Josh played with the reference book. Eyes moving over the page way too fast to actually be absorbing the information.

“You okay?”

“Hmm.” Flicking the page over, Josh avoided eye contact. “This is really good, by the way. How did you find it?”

Tyler wasn't stupid. He could tell Josh was changing the subject. But he wouldn't pry.

“I was just looking for extra resources.” He said nervously. Tyler couldn't really tell Josh that he hadn't been able to afford half of the schoolbooks.

Josh pushed the reference book forward on the desk as he said, “You're such a good student.”

With a sigh, Josh slumped onto the table, arms pillowing his head as he fell. Tyler ignored the way it made his shirt ride up at the back and focused on worrying about his friend.

“Seriously. You okay?”

Slowly, Josh's head turned to face Tyler, opening his eyes to make contact with Tyler. “I'm bored. I can't pay attention.”

 _Ah, that made sense._ They had been studying for half an hour, Josh's attention span must have caught the north train.

“Cmon, you have to keep going.”

“No.” Josh whined, curling up more on the desk, shielding himself with his arms.

“Well,” Tyler leant over in his chair to poke Josh in the side, kind of enjoying the way he squirmed and laughed. “What do you usually do to motivate yourself?”

“I don't know.” The shrug he attempted was blocked by the table. “Give myself a reward afterwards.”

Tyler kept poking Josh, under the safe illusion that he was just doing it to encourage or motivate Josh, instead of just touching because he wanted to. Because it was one of the few times he could.

“Why don't you try that?” Tyler leaned in further, upgrading to shaking Josh's shoulder a bit, only continuing when Tyler saw the smile hidden into his arms.

Pitifully, he groaned. “I'm too broke to afford a reward, I usually get ice cream or something.”

“Well,” _was Tyler really going to do this_? “If you get this exercise done I'll treat you to a triple scoop sometime. How does that sound?”

In a flash, Josh sat upright, head popping up and swivelling to the left to meet Tyler's. There was less than a ruler's distance between them, but Josh didn't seem to notice as he babbled on with glee. “Oh my gosh, yes please. That would be sick. Are you serious?”

Tyler couldn't help but let out a small laugh at Josh's excitement. All this time he could have just tried seducing Josh with ice cream. “Yeah. You have to get the work done, though.

“Yeah, of course. Awesome.” The tapping of Josh's pen returned, a happier background symphony as they smiled at each other. In the span of a second, Josh's excitement turned to appreciation and his face seemed to soften. “Cool.”

“Cool.” Tyler said back, somewhat nervous and hyper aware of how close they were. Both on the edge of their seat.

Their smiles were tentative and Tyler's mind ran on overdrive as Josh's eyes roamed over his face. _He wasn't reading too far into this, was he?_ Josh was definitely looking at his lips, right?

Tyler was so tempted. Just to lean forward. Say screw it to all the worries about Josh being out of his league or not liking him back. To close the ruler distance between them before his mind could tell him Josh was just getting caught up in a moment.

The force to do it was so strong, almost magnetic. _This could be his moment_.

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Tyler sighed as his phone went off, leaning back a bit to pick it up of the table. _This better be important._

Weariness and resignation settled into his bones as he read the news alert.

**Attack on city hall by new maniac. Can Spider-Man save us from the Lizard before police are overpowered?**

He both appreciated and hated the way the news now relied on him to beat the big, bad guys. He understood why. And he was really one of the few people to take them down.

But to see his name in a newspaper article was a lot of pressure to place on him.

Tyler really didn't want to abandon Josh, especially since they barely got to study, and Tyler was so close to doing _something_.

But as a new police update came in he knew he had to leave.

If the police were officially calling back up, it had to be bad.

Josh must have seen the wince on Tyler's face as he read the police notification. The one from the official police scanner that Tyler had managed convert into a text message format just for him.

The one he _definitely_  didn't hack into as a way to get alerts on any baddies. Because that would be illegal. And probably morally wrong.

And Tyler was a good boy.

Anyway, Josh must have seen it because he immediately asked. “What's wrong?”

Rushing for an excuse, Tyler verbally vomited out a story that he hoped wouldn't bite him on the butt later. “I'm so sorry, I completely forgot that my mum was picking me up today. Zack has practice so I was gonna go home with them instead of catching the later bus. I am so sorry.”

“Hey, it's okay. It's probably my fault for springing this on you last minute.”

“No, that's totally fine. I don't mind. Spring anything on me last minute.” Tyler realised how that might sound. “I mean. I'm always down to do anything with you.” That wasn't any better. “Just, uh. Feel free to ask me anything whenever.”

Tyler stopped while he was ahead.

Shoving, his book into his bag, Tyler stood suddenly, the chair scraping noisily against the ground. “I'll see you tomorrow. Sorry. Gotta go. Bye.”

Josh's ‘bye’ carried out in the library as Tyler pushed open the doors, sprinting out of the building as fast as he could.

_Man, this superhero thing sucked._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably gonna keep the chapters short like this, roughly 3-4k, just because I've got a lot on my plate right now with uni and everything else. Plus I would rather post something than nothing, and it's easier when there no pressure to write normal length chapters.


	3. A bit of help a.k.a "You want to take my clothes off?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter wasn't meant to exist, but I took a bit of plot from another chapter and turned it into this.
> 
> But it's 5AM, I haven't slept in days, and I thought the idea for this chapter was hilarious, so I whipped it up in an hour. Meaning this is either delirious and illegible, or some good shit. 
> 
> Hopefully I find it just as funny when I'm sleep sober.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This isn't edited, only proof read, so whoops. Sorry in advance)

The day had started of bad and the night only got worse.

Josh hadn't really talked to him since the date, something heavy filling the air and stilting their conversations. So the day had been filled with self conscious thoughts, anxiety, and awkward conversations.

It plummeted even further downhill when Tyler got caught in a fight. He was used to them by now. The big fights, the ones with the super powered _bad guys._

They were a step up from local robberies and assaults, but most of the time Tyler could take them.

But just because he could take them didn't mean he left the fights unscathed.

After a full day of emotionally draining work and interactions, Tyler had just wanted to go home. Unfortunately, he had patrol that night, and he wasn't one to drop his responsibilities.

What was meant to be just a simple watch of the neighbourhood turned into a full blown fight with a hybrid human.

Almost impenetrable skin covered his foe, and his fist felt like iron as it hit the peak of Tyler's cheekbone. He could feel each individual knuckle as he was beat into the ground.

The ringing that filled his head when he was slammed into the wall carried through the whole fight

Inevitably, Tyler won. But he left the fight with a body refusing to cooperate with him, barely able to swing away from the scene of destruction.

A cop had tried to stop him before he left, offering a ride after seeing the state Tyler was in.

He must have looked bad if even the authorities wanted to help Tyler. Usually they considered him a menace and shooed him away as fast as they could. With the exception here and there when someone would thank him for his work. Those were some of the moments that made everything worth it.

It had taken Tyler double the time to get his backpack from its hiding spot, webbed to the side of a building for easy access.

Thoughts rushed through his head as he stumbled across rooftops. He couldn't go home, not in the state he was in. It was too risky, his mum would be home early tonight and Zack was starting to get suspicious when he would wake up in the middle of the night.

There was only so many times Tyler could use the bathroom as an excuse to wandering the halls in the early hours of the morning.

That didn't leave many options, and he could feel himself slowly getting worse the more he moved. Tyler had never been as beaten down before as he was in that moment. Everything felt broken and he was tempted to just lie down on a rooftop, pray that his wounds healed in time for school and deal with his mother's questioning the next day.

Sometimes it sucked having a secret identity. No one could know what he was going through, and no one could help.

Most of the time he didn't mind, but bleeding and helpless, he only wished that he had someone to lean on.

 _Wait_. Mark.

Someone did know his identity. Mark could help him.

Sifting the phone out from the depths of his bag pocket, Tyler stumbled across the roof, right leg not quite working. He was two… maybe three, blocks from Mark's. He could make that. Had to make that.

[21:37] cn I come over?

Tyler gripped the phone in one hand, using his other to support himself as he bounded over a rooftop barrier, hitting the ground too hard. His legs buckled on impact, body dropping into a pile, only partially cushioned by his stuffed bag.

 _Beep_. His phone went off as Tyler hobbled over to the pristine house at the end of the street. If he could jump the fence, he should hopefully land in Mark's backyard. Assuming the blood lose hadn't made Tyler delirious and delusional.

_[21:37] right now?_

[21:38] y

In the distance, Tyler could see the dark figure of Mark moving across his room, window frame flooding with light as he turned on a lamp.

_[21:38] yeah sure_

With his last reserve of energy, Tyler bounded over the fence, legs giving out a bit as they hit the ground but eventually staying upright.

The idea of climbing up Mark's house, just sticking to the side of the building, exhausted Tyler. But he was so close, and he knew he had to.

 _As soon as I'm in, I'm safe_. Just a bit more.

Just one more hand, one more foot, up and up. The bag awkwardly hit his side as he scaled the outside of the building, breathing heavily when he got to Mark's bedroom window.

His form was sloppy as he tapped on the glass, only _just_ loud enough to hear in the late night silence.

Tyler didn't have the energy to wait for Mark's reply, fingers, arms, thighs quivering just from holding himself up. He slid the frame open with sticky fingers, falling in through the open space to collapse into a pile on the floor.

"Okay… so this is a thing now." Mark said, slowly with disbelief and surprise.

Tyler could see feet. Specifically, Mark’s Godzilla covered feet. _Cool socks_.

A groan was the best reply Tyler could summon as he rolled over, laying flat on his back as he looked up at the cracked ceiling.

“Mask.” Tyler could feel his heart rate lowering, the throbbing sensation no longer overwhelming as his body didn't have to fight to keep pumpin blood around his moving limbs.

Mark continued to look at Tyler for a solid five seconds, before literally jumping into action, feet kicking up as he rushed towards Tyler.

Fumbling fingers pulling at his face was not the best feeling, but it was probably one of the nicer things that had happened to him that night so he couldn't complain.

“Damn, dude. How do you get this thing off?”

“ _Really_ , Mark?” Tyler asked, as incredulous as he could in his tired state. “It's a mask. You just...pull it off.”

“I know that,” Mark hissed, “it's like, stuck to your skin or something. Dammit. How tight does your suit have to be?”

Mark was preaching to the choir. Tyler knew _exactly_ how tight the suit was.

Tight enough that it felt like breaking water when the mask came off, finally being able to fully breathe without material in the way.

“Oh my god, it really is you.”

Tyler was a good friend, so he wouldn’t tease Mark for the way he… squealed? Squeaked? Sqwauked? He didn't know the right animalistic adjective for Mark's high pitched sentence. Tyler was gonna just chalk it up to blood loss and give his friend the benefit of the doubt.

He went to run a hand over his face, a comforting, grounding gesture that was shattered when Tyler remembered how broken and battered he was. Sighing, he dropped the hand back down, accepting his fate of just laying spread eagle on his best friends floor. “I'm pretty sure we did this earlier. The ‘ooh it's me’ thing.”

“Yeah,” Mark began as he stood up from his kneeling position, “but it's different seeing it in the suit.”

Tyler wasn't going to argue with Mark's logic, opting instead to watch him trudge over to the chest of drawers. Mark slid one open, the sound of old wood grinding against older wood filling the room as Tyler lost any attention span, eyes beginning to wonder over the walls and ceiling.

There were a few changes since Tyler had last been in Mark's room. After almost two years of crime fighting, his time management skills slowly fell, and Tyler's visits eventually dwindled over the months.

The most significant change would be the posters. The many, many Spider-Man posters.

It wasn't hard to tell that Mark was a fan of Spider-Man, it had been a nice little picker-upper over the years. But Tyler was unaware Mark was that _intense_ of a fan.

He let out a groan as he watched Tyler take in the room. “Well, this is embarrassing.”

Tyler had intended to be nice and ignore the posters, for Mark's sake, but apparently his staring and slight gawking wasn't as subtle as he thought. In his defence, seeing his face - masked face but still - plastered over his friend's wall, was a tad strange.

“I thought, huh, I thought you would have taken ‘em down by now.” It had been at least an eight day time gap between Mark finding out about Tyler's identity, and Tyler gatecrashing his room. Maybe Mark was still in shock? “Findin’ out I was Spidey and all that. Might have made it lose its appeal.”

“No way!” In outrage, Mark dropped the clothing in his hands on the floor next to him, fixing Tyler with a look. “It's made it even cooler, dude."

“Huh.” _Really_? “Sick.”

Mark started to fret, looking at Tyler's delirious state with concern. “I seriously think you have a concussion, dude. And probably major blood loss. I can't tell if that's blood or your suit at this point.”

Tyler did actually think about it, attempting to glance down at the red material before giving up after his head throbbed. “Prob’ly both.”

“Oh my god.”

 _Poor Mark_. He really didn't deserve Tyler rocking up on his windowsill, bloody and beaten. Tyler must be so annoying, no wonder Josh didn't talk to him today. The study date was so bad, Tyler could barely talk to Josh half the time, head to caught up in his feelings.

And the way it ended, Tyler getting up in his space and then bolting. _Gah_. Tyler was the worst.

Josh must hate him. Especially since Tyler could barely get a word out around him, more so than usual. Each time he talked to Josh his mind got stuck in that one moment where he almost kissed Josh, so tempted just to let go off his inhibitions.

Tyler really didn't want Josh to hate him. Josh was too pretty for Tyler's self esteem to handle hatred. "Hey. Did you see him today? He was s’cute. And he liked my skin.” Josh couldn't hate Tyler right? He complimented Tyler. But that was probably a forced compliment, because Tyler was the one who brought it up. Josh was probably too nice to say anything to Tyler's face.

“Buddy, that was last week.”

Mark didn't seem very happy with Tyler's mess up.”

“Huh, really? I thought that, I thought, was this today.” Tyler wasn't quite sure what day it was after Mark messed up his reality like that. “Do you think he likes me? I wish. I think he hates me."

“That's nice and all, but.” Mark cried, voice slightly high pitched and hysterical. He needed to chill. "I'm not qualified to deal with this.”

“It’s _fine_.” Tyler reassured, drawing out the _i_ as he flapped a hand in Mark's face. “Happens all the time. Just gotta nap. I'll heal"

“Nope! You definitely have a concussion. And I need to stop the blood loss.” Mark glanced back at his bathroom before making a _stay hither_ motion. “Don't move. I'm gonna get some supplies and try and… fix you? Don't do anything stupid.”

“Mmmkay.” Except Tyler's always had a terrible listening problem. His aunt told him not to climb trees many times in his childhood, which he ignored, and ended up with broken bones. Huh, guess he always had a climbing problem as well. The spider powers probably didn't help that addiction. It definitely didn't help the listening-to-good-advice problem.

Which probably explained why Mark freaked out when he returned to Tyler sitting on the wall, slipping slightly when a muscle in his thigh gave out, phone in hand.

"What are you doing?" He said from the doorway, shellshock and stuck still as he stared at Tyler's sloppy form.

"M’gonna tell him he's pretty."

Which was an excellent plan. Because Josh deserved to be told he's pretty. Because he was. He was very pretty. The prettiest. The prettiest pretty to ever pretty.

Mark didn't seem to agree as he aggressively shook his head. "No. No. Bad idea, Tyler. Bad idea.”

Screw Mark, Tyler's plan was amazing.

That's why he climbed onto the roof as Mark reached for the phone, ignoring his cries of ‘that's not fair’. If Mark wanted to be fair, he should have got superpowers instead of complaining.

Glaring at Mark, Tyler brought up Josh's number, hitting call without hesitation. Something he had never done before.

It took less than two rings before Josh’s voice was in his ear. “Tyler?”

Gosh, his voice was so nice. Did Josh have superpowers? It felt like just hearing Josh say his name was soothing all his cuts and aches. That could have also just been his healing powers kicking in.

"Heeeyyyy, Josh."

There was a moment of silence before Josh replied, slightly more hesitant than before. “Uh hi, what's up?"

Tyler wasn't a liar. "Me.”

There was some rustling on the other end of the call. There was also some rustling on his end of the call as Mark tried to swipe at Tyler, fingers grazing at his knee.

“Okay... uh, you alright, Ty?”

If Josh could call Tyler by a nickname for the rest of his life, that would be completely okay with him. A hundred and ten percent okay. “I'm fine. Like you. You're fine."

_Damn, Tyler was smooth._

“Are you drunk?"

“No.” Tyler couldn't quite tell Josh he was broken though. “Hey, Josh?”

There was some more rustling before Josh replied. “Yeah?”

“Do you hate me? I don't want you to hate me.”

Tyler felt like he could almost feel the sigh that came through the phone, caressing his ear. It wasn't judgmental like his mothers or resigned like Mark's, just tired. Or maybe more upset. “Of course I don't hate you.” Josh's voice was nice. Nicer than usual. It was soft, feeling kind of like a hug, making something warm and comforting ettle in Tyler's chest. “The opposite really. I like you a lot, you're a great person.”

“That's good. I like you too.” Tyler's like was different than Josh's like though. Which sucked. “Just, there's some things about me. And if you ever find out, please don't hate me for it.”

“I won't. I promise.” A moment hung between them before Josh spoke again. “Hey. Maybe you should go to bed."

“I tried to.” Tyler whined. Josh sounded concerned and it wasn't Tyler's fault. He glared at Mark as he reached down to swat him on the head, unraveling from his spot on the roof. “Mark wouldn't let me. He's mean. Be angry at him, not me."

Mark snatched the phone from Tyler, which was very rude. It was probably Tyler's fault for letting down his guard, standing completely upside down and in Mark's reach. Hurriedly, Mark verbally scrambled to end the call. "Hey Josh. Sorry about that. He hit his head so he's a little out of it. See you tomorrow. Bye.”

"Awww," Tyler complained as Mark hung up the phone, "I didn't get to tell him he's pretty.”

"You can tell him tomorrow. Now please get down. I'm worried for you and my ceiling. I think it's caving in."

Having given Mark enough grief by that point, Tyler wrapped his arms around Mark's neck and let go of his grip on the roof, clinging onto him. Mark staggered a bit under Tyler's sudden weight, but accepted to the pile of Tyler that landed in his arms.

"Mark?" He whispered into Mark's shirt, letting himself be carried over to the bed. Oh, poor white sheets. Poor Mark's mum. Poor Mark. The blood would require a lot of explaining.

"Yeah, bud?”

Something definitely twinged when Tyler was settled onto the sheets, back tensing in pain. Was it possible to feel your rib stick into your liver?

He felt disorientated, the world spinning as he stared at his face on the ceiling. The corner of the poster was falling off on one side, causing the image of his mask to distort.

Tyler wasn't meant to be seeing his face. Unless he was dead. Was he dead?

"Where am I?"

Mark sighed as he ran fingers along Tyler's neck, pulling at the material before running down to the front of his chest. "My room, dude."

There was more searching and tugging, frustration growing on Mark's face but not coming out in his fingers. Tyler was thankful that Mark was still wary of his wounds. Even though they were starting to get numb. That was good? Or bad?

“How do you take this thing off?” _Oooh, someone was angry._

Tyler shrugged. He didn't know. It just… came off?

“Dammit, Tyler.” Mark said, slowly turning Tyler on his side to inspect the back. “Help me help you. You need to take this thing off.”

“Ooh, Mark. You want to take my clothes off?” Tyler broke off into a laugh. Maybe finding out Tyler was his celebrity crush finally converted Mark to homosexuality. Or bisexuality? Or something. Tyler felt honoured to be Mark's conversion. “Scand… scandi. Scandalous. But I'm taken.”

“Mmmhmm.” Mark didn't sound interested. Tyler didn't care. Mark needed to know this.

Tyler stared Mark in the eye, seeing the light in them finally return as he managed to get part of Tyler's suit off. That was the happiest Tyler had ever seen him. If only he would look back at Tyler so he could really get his point across to Mark.

He couldn't let Mark’s crush continue when it would only lead to broken hearts and ruined friendships.

“Josh Dun has me. My heart. But not really. Then I would be dead.”

Was that blunt enough? Tyler felt like he might have the lost his main focus at one point.

“Okay, buddy. Please, turn over so I can take the rest off.”

Would Tyler have to comfort Mark? Would that be awkward since Tyler had just rejected Mark? “So you can't have me. I'm saving myself for Josh.”

With the same monotone of the last five minutes, Mark replied with, "I'm sure he'll be ecstatic.”

Poor Mark. Tyler was a heartbreaker. He never thought it possible.

Did this make Tyler a player? Would Josh be mad? It wasn't Tyler's fault, really.

“Mark?” Tyler felt cold, his suit fully off as Mark wiped down his cuts with alcohol.

“Mmm?”

Tyler put on underwear that night, right? It would be very awkward if he didn't. Mark had already seen him naked, five times too many. But not for an extended period.

And Tyler was fitter. He had gotten better since Mark last ran into him changing. Poor Mark, rejected and then having to wipe down the improved body of his crush.

There was the snap of elastic as Mark pulled Tyler's boxers down over his hip, wiping the cloth over the graze. Tyler got that when he had been thrown into the wall, the protruding bone running over the brick surface.

“Mark?”

“Mmm.” He seemed more interested in the hole in Tyler's torso than Tyler himself. Which fair enough. Tyler himself wasn't very interesting.

“Mark?” Were those scissors?

“Yes, Tyler?”

False alarm. Mark was just cutting up fabric. Tyler wouldn't lose any more of his body. Heh. It wouldn't be any skin of his nose. _Hehe._

“I forgot.”

Tyler would prefer if Mark didn't sigh in complete disappointment when Tyler was laying on his bed half naked, covered in bandages.

Silence fell over them as Mark continued to clean wounds and Tyler tried his best to stay awake. He took to watching the clock on Mark's wall, ignoring the Spider-Man poster next to it. _How many posters did Mark have?_

It felt like each minute passing was getting faster and slower. Bandages wrapping around thighs, ribs, and fingers, disinfectant stinging the surface. It just seemed to carry on.

Tyler didn't have the heart or working higher cognitive ability to tell Mark that the bandages were a waste. All Tyler needed was disinfect, and a temporary splint if there were broken bones.

He learned that splints were needed the hard way. His right pinky had never been the same.

“Mark?”

The blood that Mark accidentally rubbed onto his face was probably unhygienic. But Mark was pulling on his weary face, dragging down his cheeks, before Tyler could stop him.

“What is it, Tyler?”

There was another bout of quiet as Tyler regained his train of thought. "Mark, where are we?"

To the unsuperpowered ear, the mutter of “my god, how have you gotten away with this for so long,” would have gone unnoticed. But Tyler had super hearing. And a concussion. So he excused Mark's rudeness.

"We’re in my room."

In a moment of clarity, or the last bit of delusion, Tyler realised Mark was in for a long night.

He didn't feel guilty for Mark's misery though, because Tyler was forced into Spider-Man pajamas later that night. And really, who had it worse in that scenario?

Mark wasn't the one looking like a total d-bag wearing clothing with his own face on it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't do concussions, kiddos. Not even once.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm over on tumblr @diddlydundidit


End file.
